Qatar’s work visa system allows use of forced labour

International unions warn Qatar’s work visa system
allows employers to use forced labour

New case
lodged with ILO ahead of Qatar’s World Cup building
frenzy

Brussels, 18 January 2013 (ITUC OnLine):
International unions have today lodged a new case with the
International Labour Organisation presenting evidence on the
use of forced labour in Qatar. With only 300,000 Qatari
nationals, 1.2 million migrant workers are needed for the
country’s infrastructure boom and are forced into unsafe
conditions and poverty wages.

This is the first
time forced labour has been used to define working
conditions in Qatar in a case to the ILO. The representation
has been lodged jointly by the ITUC and the Building and
Wood Workers’ International (BWI) and features seven
individual cases from hundreds which have been reported to
the ITUC.ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said the
visa sponsorship system in Qatar allows the exaction of
forced labour by making it difficult for a migrant worker to
leave an abusive employer or travel overseas without
permission.

“Under Qatari law, employers have
near total control over workers. They alone choose if a
worker can change jobs, leave the country or stay in
Qatar.“In the next few months the contracts for the
new World Cup stadia and infrastructure will be announced.
Millions more workers will be hired from overseas for the
road, rail and building infrastructure for the World
Cup.

“We are putting multi-national companies
tendering for these contracts on notice to abide by
international law and respect workers’ rights,” said
Sharan Burrow.

The Labour Relations Department of
the Ministry of Labour in Qatar received 6000 worker
complaints last year. According to local media reports, the
top concerns facing workers included employers not
fulfilling obligations under the visa sponsorship system
including refusal to give end-of-service benefits, and also
delays in paying wages. In some cases, workers are not paid
at all.

“Many workers suffer exploitation for
fear of retaliation. The Government must put their 150
labour inspectors to work and make the complaints process
accessible to the majority of workers, many of whom don’t
speak English or Arabic,” said Ambet Yuson, General
Secretary, Building and Wood Workers
International.

A committee was set up by the
Government last year to look at the sponsorship rules, among
the most restrictive in Gulf countries, but has not
responded to the growing number of sponsorship
abuses.

Once received, the ILO will establish a
tripartite committee to review the evidence and make
recommendations to the Government of Qatar on how to comply
with its international commitments.

The ITUC
points to six practices that violate workers’ rights
including:

- false promises on
the nature and type of work by recruiters and
sponsors

- employer obligations
on wages and working conditions not
met

- contracts entered into
prior to departure not respected in
Qatar

- workers indebted to
recruiters or moneylenders who extract high
fees

- passports withheld by
employers

- workers forced to
live in squalid overcrowded labour camps

Last
month the ITUC intervened to the Qatari Minister of Labour
in the case of one worker caught in the sponsorship trap.
Watch the case of Benjamin Cruz featured on Equal
Times.

International Solidarity Movement On the 20th of March, during Ni’lin’s weekly Friday demonstration, Israeli occupation forces attacked protestors with about 20 rounds of tear gas canisters shot with the ‘venom’ tear gas launcher mounted on a military jeep ... More>>

Yemen stands on the brink of civil war amid deepening political tensions and an uptick in sectarian violence, United Nations Special Adviser Jamal Benomar warned today as he explained that only through dialogue could the country achieve a peaceful political transition. More>>

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is dispatching emergency life-saving supplies to communities in Tuvalu as part of its efforts to assist communities in the Pacific region that were affected by Tropical Cyclone Pam, with nutrition and hygiene kits arriving today. More>>